FAKE PAINTINGS GALORE

By Arnel Mirasol

Wikipedia defines art forgery as the creation of works of art which are falsely attributed to other, usually more famous, artists. Copies, replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries if the copying artist puts his own signature on the artwork and not that of the master. I wrote this essay after reading an article by Constantino Tejero in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, titled "Devious Manansala Thwarted." Tejero discussed in that article a painting, The Bird Seller (top) which was scheduled to be put on the block in a Christie's-Hong kong auction. The painting, dated 1976, was supposedly by Manansala, but alert Manansala collectors immediately notified Christie's of their suspicion that the work was most probably a forgery. There is a similar 1973 Manansala work owned by Judy Araneta Roxas titled Birdman (above right).  The Bird Seller, could have easily passed itself off as genuine despite a subtle difference in coloration. Only the discerning eyes of the Manansala experts prevented its doing so. And indeed, the Bird Seller, when analyzed and compared with the original Manansala, showed hints of being painted by a lesser-skilled artist. The accusation by the Manansala collectors must be true, because the owner of the Bird Seller, when challenged by the Christie's personnel, just quietly withdrew the painting from the auction.

Art forgery is a lucrative racket. One painter, a Dutchman, sold more than a million dollars worth of fake Vermeers before being discovered and jailed. The painter who doubled as an art dealer was Han van Meegeren. He sold several "Vermeer"  paintings (sample at left) to Hitler's air force chief Hermann Goering. When the allies discovered Goering's cache of  supposed Vermeers, and traced its origin to van Meegeren, he was promptly arrested and charged with collaboration with the Nazis - a crime punishable by death. To save his skin, van Meegeren chose to confess to a lesser crime, and claimed that he himself painted the fake Vermeers - a claim he proved when he painted in prison the painting Jesus Among the Doctors (below).

And the racketeers are still at it, it would seem, as shown by the case of a painting being eagerly passed off as a lost Michelangelo (below). The painting was a Pieta, and I - although not formally schooled in art criticism - could easily see that it wasn't a Michelangelo at all. It is but a confused amalgam of the styles of Caravaggio, Giovanni Bellini, and okay, perhaps Michelangelo himself. But Michelangelo always painted his bambinos chubby, not muscular. Therefore, the very muscularity of the two boys betrays the try-hard and silly attempt of whoever painted this to approximate Michelangelo's images of adult male and female figures who are always muscular.

Filipino art forgers have already caught on with their foreign counterparts, as witness the appearance in recent years of a fake Malang, a fake Bencab, and perhaps several fake Botongs. Fake Amorsolos seem to be abundant even during the days when the master was still alive. I've read somewhere that when a buyer of a fake Amorsolo brought the painting to him for authentication, Amorsolo, out of pity for the poor buyer, applied by his own hand daubs of paint to the canvas to make it an "original" work of his.

An assistant curator of a gallery in Manila, told me that he moonlights as a dealer of a Botong watercolor, which is priced at more than a hundred thousand pesos. I have seen an original Botong watercolor, so I told him that I could perhaps tell if the Botong he was selling was a fake. He said that he was sure that the artwork was genuine because it has a certificate of authenticity, signed by Botong's manchador (underpainter or apprentice) himself, to back it up. I cannot say this to his face then , but I'm saying now that some people can be bought. Well, my point is, authentication papers don't mean a thing if the artworks they certify as originals are so badly done that they are easily seen as clear bastardization of the masters' styles.. What art buyers should do is to ask for certificates of authenticity from the artist himself upon purchase of the artwork, as what the buyer of the three oils I exhibited at the Crucible Gallery (below) did.

Seraglio Fantasy, 2005, oil on canvas, 13 X 24 inches

Snorkeler's Blues, 2006, oil on canvas, 13 X 24 inches

Trekkers' Bliss, 2006. oil on canvas, 13 X 24 inches

But documents can also be forged - more easily.  Therefore, the best thing to do perhaps is for an art buyer to have his picture taken while the artist is turning over to him the painting he bought. Just like what me and my cycling buddy and fellow artist, Isko dela Cruz, did, when Jojo Garcia handed over to us his jeepney paintings in fulfillment of our respective exchange deals. (See turn-over photos below) Now, if Isko and I decide to sell Jojo's paintings in an auction, we can easily belie the claim of alert Garcia collectors that what we are selling are dubious Garcias. The transaction won't be thwarted, and Isko and I would run, or rather, bike laughing all the way to the bank, hahaha....

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